THE devastated founders of the Cockatoo Island Film Festival say they stand to lose seven years of work and much of their $500,000 investment if it collapses.

The co-creative directors Allanah Zitserman and Stavros Kazantzidis fear the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust will withdraw its support for the festival, which featured more than 80 films, concerts by Arrested Development and Matt Corby and talks by Peter Weir and Jane Campion in its debut in October.

Ms Zitserman said the end of the event would also kill the couple's Dungog Film Festival and a program of regional festivals that started in Dubbo this year and was due to extend to Armidale and Broken Hill.

The filmmaker couple believe they have been left in limbo - neither allowed to address a meeting reviewing the festival this week or meet the trust's executive director, Geoff Bailey - after what they consider a successful event on the harbour island.

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''I feel like we're victims of the Cockatoo Island curse,'' Ms Zitserman said, citing the collapse of earlier festivals and a plan for an adventure park.

''I'm really gutted that it's come to this. We really believed in creating something that was uniquely Australian but potentially recognised globally.

''In the last seven years, we've dedicated ourselves 150 per cent, seven days a week, 14-hour days. We've been so driven by a passion to create something that's really valuable for NSW.''

The couple invested $500,000 of their own funds towards the $2 million running costs of the first festival in October, buying cinema screens, projection equipment and draping for future years.

Over five days, it attracted 34,000 patrons - both paid and free tickets - but attracted flak when 200 people could not get into the opening night movie.

''For a first year, it was healthy but it was a new product, there was a new transport system and there was a lot of new information for attendees to get their head around,'' Ms Zitserman said. ''It was something we could have really built on and the future was looking really bright.''

But she conceded the opening night dramas, when 200 extra patrons turned up, were a problem.

''That was obviously an error on our part and something that we wouldn't ever have happen again.

''There was a lot of learning [that came] from understanding the island and logistical challenges and the costs involved … but that's what you expect from a first-year event.''

The trust's Geoff Bailey would not comment on the festival.

A spokesman released a statement saying the trust was conducting a review and the outcome ''will assist [it] to determine how it will move forward''.